Fail Safe

Original title: Fail-Safe

1964
Approved
1h 52m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

25K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:56

Epic Political Drama Political Thriller Drama Thriller

A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

25K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,674

426

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 3 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:56

Trailer [OV]

Photos182

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The "computer-generated" image on the control-room screen (including the map of the world, the planes and the explosions) was entirely drawn and animated by hand.

Goofs
The end credits list General Black's wife as Betty, but in the film he addresses her as Katie and in a radio conversation, the President asks Black, "Are Kathryn and the kids in New York?"

Quotes
US Ambassador: [over the phone] I can hear the sound of explosions from the north east. The sky is very bright. All lit up.
[phone melts and high pitched whining sound starts]

Crazy credits
[FINAL CREDIT]: The producers of this film wish to stress that it is the stated position of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force that a rigidly enforced system of safeguards and controls insure that occurrences such as those depicted in this story cannot happen

Connections
Featured in Henry Fonda: The Man and His Movies (1982)

User reviews197

Review

Featured review

9/10

Shocking, brilliant, frightening, wonderful.

See "Fail- Safe."

I couldn't sleep without the light on after I saw this fantastically fabricated film. When a machine malfunctions and signals a U.S bomber to drop atomic missiles over Moscow, the Soviet Premier and the U.S President struggle to save the world from nuclear holocaust. The last three minutes are among the most powerful I've seen in a movie.